thankless
adjective
thank·less
ˈthaŋk-ləs 
1
: not likely to obtain thanks : unappreciated
a thankless task
2
: not expressing or feeling gratitude : ungrateful
how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child—
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
thanklessly
adverb
thanklessness
noun
Examples of thankless in a Sentence
a thankless boss who seems oblivious to the extra effort his subordinates have made
the thankless job of cleaning up after a party
Recent Examples on the Web
The newsroom drama—which is streaming on Netflix starting today (April 5)— is based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, by former BBC guest booker Sam McAlister, whose sometimes thankless job led her to the exclusive of a lifetime.
—Armani Syed, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Perhaps Hur, while doing a thankless public service, also offered a generational lament at our gerontocratic government.
—Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024
To be fair, delivering the State of the Union opposition address is a thankless job.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024
So some agents are handing that thankless task to machines.
—Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Officers have a thankless, dangerous job: On more than one occasion they have been targeted by assassins.
—Jesse Barron, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2024
Even the late Steve Jobs—the genius and notoriously thankless manager who co-founded Apple—in Gates’ opinion, did the same.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 9 Dec. 2023
Spending time poring over manuscripts to offer thoughtful and incisive critique as a peer reviewer is one of academia’s most thankless jobs.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Feb. 2024
Notably, hosting award shows has become one of the more thankless tasks in showbiz, so much so that the Globes – which admittedly suffered from its own spotty history and past scandals – essentially had to settle for Koy after other comedians declined the gig.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 5 Feb. 2024
Armani Syed, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Perhaps Hur, while doing a thankless public service, also offered a generational lament at our gerontocratic government.
—Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024
To be fair, delivering the State of the Union opposition address is a thankless job.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024
So some agents are handing that thankless task to machines.
—Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Officers have a thankless, dangerous job: On more than one occasion they have been targeted by assassins.
—Jesse Barron, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2024
Even the late Steve Jobs—the genius and notoriously thankless manager who co-founded Apple—in Gates’ opinion, did the same.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 9 Dec. 2023
Spending time poring over manuscripts to offer thoughtful and incisive critique as a peer reviewer is one of academia’s most thankless jobs.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Feb. 2024
Notably, hosting award shows has become one of the more thankless tasks in showbiz, so much so that the Globes – which admittedly suffered from its own spotty history and past scandals – essentially had to settle for Koy after other comedians declined the gig.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 5 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thankless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of thankless was
in the 15th century
Dictionary Entries Near thankless
Cite this Entry
“Thankless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thankless. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
thankless
adjective
thank·less
ˈthaŋ-kləs
1
: not appreciated by others
a thankless job
2
: not showing or feeling gratitude
thanklessly
adverb
thanklessness
noun
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